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Credit: Angela Rowlings

Former Gov. Deval Patrick told a Kansas City radio station that running for president in 2020 is on his "radar screen."

"It's on my radar screen, but it's a huge decision," Patrick said when asked of a potential presidential campaign. "I am trying to think through 2020 and that's a decision I'm trying to think through from a personal and family point of view."

Patrick made the comments last week in an appearance on KCUR, a Kansas City public radio station, but they had largely flown under the radar, including in Massachusetts.

Sitting down for a wide-ranging talk on President Trump and politics, Patrick indicated he's ready to re-emerge into the public and political fray, pointing to an appearance he made late last year during Doug Jones' successful U.S. Senate run in Alabama.

"My current focus is to figure out, consistent with my day job, how I can help some of the candidates who are running in 2018," Patrick said, referencing his current work at Bain Capital. "It's good to be out."

Patrick has previously played coy about any 2020 aspirations, telling Politico last year it was "way, way too soon to be making plans for 2020."

But he's long been considered a popular contender in Democratic circles, and despite keeping a low public profile since leaving the State House in 2015, it's done little to quell speculation about a potential run in the future.

"It's a huge consideration," he said in the Feb. 28 radio appearance, "particularly when I think, I'm still a kid from the south side of Chicago."

He made a brief appearance on Beacon Hill last month for former Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry's farewell speech in the House chamber. Then came the Kansas City radio appearance, followed by another appearance on a WBUR podcast the next day, which Patrick promoted with his first tweet in nearly three years on his long-dormant Twitter account.